ACORN out of the Census? Update: Fox News confirms

House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Ranking Member Darrell Issa (R-CA) today applauded U.S. Census Bureau Director Robert Groves’ decision to terminate its partnership with ACORN in conducting the 2010 Census: “ACORN had no business working on the Census. ACORN’s partisan election efforts and its involvement in criminal conduct rightly disqualified it from working on the non-partisan mission of the Census to accurately and honestly count the U.S. population,” said Rep. Issa. “Had ACORN been allowed to submit fraudulent information to the Census, it could have changed the boundaries of Congressional districts and altered Federal funding decisions to states and local communities. I applaud Census Bureau Director Robert Groves for making this independent decision following mounting evidence of wrongdoing by ACORN.”

Takeaway quotes from letter: “Over the last several months, through ongoing communication with our regional offices, it is clear that ACORN’s affiliation with 2010 Census promotion has caused sufficient concern in the general public, has ineed become a distraction from our mission, and may even become a discouragement to public cooperation, negatively impacting 2010 Census efforts. While not decisive factors in this decision, recent events concerning several local offices of ACORN have added to the worsening negative perceptions of ACORN and its affiliation with our partnership efforts.”

UPDATE 3: This is from earlier, but I love it

Update: James O’Keefe, the mastermind behind the ACORN sting, warns CNN and the rest of the Past-Tense Media to stop bugging him for interview requests until they have the stones to air the hidden-camera footage:

Here’s what I have noticed from your coverage: You brought in the damage control crowd to FRAME the story. Before even airing our damning Baltimore video. You know your audience would turn on ACORN if you showed them the evidence. So instead you put your competitors in journalism in the crosshairs instead of airing a blockbuster report making massive waves elsewhere.

You even trotted out shameless Clinton era apologist Joe Conason to challenge the ETHICS of our expose. Unreal.